The present invention relates to liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
More precisely, the invention relates to a method of controlling the display on a liquid crystal display, the method being of the type enabling the displayed information to be refreshed in successive stages.
Numerous types of apparatus exist that include liquid crystal displays and in which the present invention can thus be implemented. Thus the invention applies particularly, but not exclusively, to a mobile radiocommunications terminal. For example, the mobile terminal may be of one of the following types: GSM 900 (the Global System for Mobile communications, a public mobile radiocommunications system operating in the 900 MHz band), DCS 1800 (Digital Cellular System, operating in the 1800 MHz band), or PCS (Personal Communication System).
In general, a liquid crystal display makes it possible to display information corresponding in particular to at least one image element and/or one text element.
Conventionally, the display requires the displayed information to be refreshed periodically. The principle on which such refreshment in successive stages is based is recalled briefly below.
Generally, the display is organized in rows and columns. For this purpose, each row is driven by a row display command, and each column is driven by a column display command. Thus, in order to display the information to be displayed, each row display command for a row is activated successively for a row display period, and the information specific to the associated row is displayed by activating column display commands in succession. In other words, while a row display command is activated, the other row display commands are maintained in a state in which, for each of them, no display is being commanded in the corresponding row.
In addition, during the display period in which one row is being displayed, the information necessary for displaying the next row must be made available to begin displaying the next row. Unfortunately, conventionally, when not all of the information necessary for displaying the next row is available at the end of display of the current row, this disturbs the display. One of two known solutions is generally implemented, namely: either the display command for the next row is activated regardless, and then, through lack of information, the display is incomplete; or else activation of the display command for the current row is extended, which is not satisfactory either.
In the context of the present invention, it is further assumed that the information to be displayed is saved in a shared memory which is used by one or more users other than the liquid crystal display. The term xe2x80x9cother userxe2x80x9d is used to mean any element or circuit requiring access to the shared memory and also contained in the apparatus (e.g. a GSM mobile terminal) which itself contains the liquid crystal display. For example, in a radiocommunications terminal, the xe2x80x9cother usersxe2x80x9d of the shared memory may be the following elements: the processor which writes the information to be displayed on the liquid crystal display in the shared memory, and the processor which executes the radiocommunications protocol and uses the shared memory to write information therein or to read information therefrom, it being possible for the two processors to be constituted by a common processor.
In order to refresh the liquid crystal display, it is thus necessary to transfer, periodically, the information to be displayed. Such transfer, from the shared memory to the liquid crystal display, takes place via a common access medium, such as, for example, a memory access bus.
It can be understood immediately that such transfer suffers from the major drawback of occupying the common access medium and the shared memory. In other words, for the other users, the common access medium and the shared memory are unavailable for the entire duration of the transfer. So long as the liquid crystal display has not received the information necessary for displaying the next row, all of the other users are constrained to wait before they can use the common access medium.
In addition, the other users are generally constrained to release the common access medium so as to guarantee that the information necessary for displaying the next row is transferred before the end of the display period of the current row.
This mechanism of waiting, possibly with forced release, is not advantageous because it involves a loss of availability of the common access medium for the other users.
A particular object of the present invention is to mitigate the various drawbacks of the state of the art.
More precisely, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling a liquid crystal display, which method makes it possible to reduce disturbance to the display.
An additional object of the invention is to a provide such a method that makes it possible not to constrain the other users of the common access medium to release said medium in order to guarantee that the information necessary for displaying the next row is transferred before the end of the display period of the current row.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a method that makes it possible to reduce the unavailability of the common access medium for the users other than the liquid crystal display.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a method that makes it possible to optimize use of working resources such as, in particular, the shared memory.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a method that is simple to implement and therefore low in cost.
These various objects and others that appear below are achieved by the invention by means of a method of controlling a liquid crystal display, the method being of the type requiring refreshment of the displayed information, in successive stages, a refresh stage comprising the following steps:
executing at least one request to access a shared memory, so as to collect therefrom information to be displayed; and
activating display control members so that the control members perform a refresh operation on the basis of the collected information to be displayed;
wherein, when, for a refresh stage, said information to be displayed is not available quickly enough, said method further comprises the following steps:
interrupting said access request; and
going to a next refresh stage by omitting said activation of the current stage.
The general principle of the invention is thus as follows: in the absence of new information to be displayed (e.g. at the end of the preceding display period), firstly the access request being executed is interrupted, and secondly the second step of the refresh stage (i.e. the step in which the display control members are activated) is skipped (i.e. omitted). Such skipping (or omission) offers the advantage of reducing liquid crystal display demand on the common access medium, and thus of leaving said medium available for the other users.
In other words, the display control members are xe2x80x9cput on holdxe2x80x9d (for example, this may correspond to deactivating the display control members for the current row without activating the display control members of the next row).
Thus, unlike in the state of the art, the need to refresh the liquid crystal display is dissociated from availability of the common access medium.
This characteristic is particularly advantageous for any system that has real time constraints. It also enables better use to be made of the available working resources, namely, in particular the shared memory.
In addition, no additional circuit that might increase the complexity of the architecture is necessary. Similarly, no major restructuring needs to be performed compared with the known method of controlling a liquid crystal display. Thus, the invention is simple to implement and therefore low in cost.
It should be noted that the invention imposes no constraint on the number, shape, or type of the image and/or text element(s) to be displayed during the refresh stage in which the display is refreshed.
In a preferred implementation of the invention, each refresh stage consists in displaying a row of image and/or text element(s) displayed by said display.
In other words, no row display command, and specifically neither the command to display the current row nor the command to display the next row, is activated if the information to be displayed on the next row has not been collected by the end of the period for displaying the current row.